Originally posted by Darion
[B]Mussina ended the season 15-7 with 172 strikeouts in a year in which no pitcher in baseball got 20 wins.
How was his second half? It was bad just like I said it was.

He was 2-4 in August and September.


The Yankees scored the most runs in baseball after the All-Star Break.
We are talking about pitching here, not scoring runs.


The guy started 13 games in 2005 (4-7) and 22 in 2004 (10-6). Johnson started 33 games *himself* this season.
And they both sucked (Brown and the Unit). That's half your starting rotation last year.

We're talking about the last 6 years, not just this year.

Al Leiter was 4-5 with a 5+ ERA in 2005.

They've been plagued by tons of sub-standard high priced pitching over the last 6 years.

I am not a big enough baseball fan, or Yankee fan, to remember all the examples, but even off the top of my head I remembered those.

And I've heard it talked about on sportsradio as well, so I know I'm not pulling this out of my ass.

Steinbrenner has had a habit over the last 5-10 years of loading up on overpaid, over the hill, end of their career, pitchers who cannot deliver (especially in the post season). That cannot be laid at the feet of Joe Torre.

And the reason it matters to look at post-season and second half of the season is because that's when these ancient pitchers really show their age. They can't put together a full season. That's also why so many of them are on and off the DL.